The correct prize for an apparent $42.9 million slot machine jackpot that a Thornton woman hit at a Central City casino should have been $20.18, Colorado gaming regulators said today.

The errant jackpot appeared on a “Price is Right” penny slot at Fortune Valley Hotel & Casino on March 26 after Louise Chavez made a minimum bet of 40 cents.

The Colorado Division of Gaming’s forensic investigation found that the slot machine malfunctioned and displayed the wrong payout because of errors in “mathematical calculations built into the game software.”

At the time, the top award on the slot, a progressive game that takes a percentage of bets placed in all similar machines, was $251,183.16. But to be eligible for the top award, a maximum wager of 400 credits, or $4, was required. Chavez’s 40-cent wager was eligible for a prize of 20,000 credits, or $200, if she would have hit the progressive.

Fortune Valley previously paid Chavez $23.43, which included the $10.25 in credits she hadn’t played. The Gaming Division has ordered the slot machine manufacturer and operator of the progressive system, WMS Gaming, to pay Chavez the $7 she is owed.

Chavez has previously told television stations that she believes she was cheated and deserves the full payout.

“Whatever that machine said, I should get it,” she said.

Centaur, the bankrupt parent company of Fortune Valley, put the casino on the block last year. The Indianapolis-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March.

In 2008, a slot machine at a Black Hawk casino told a gambler that she had won $164 million when the correct prize was $6.60. The gambler reached a confidential settlement with the casino.

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